SCFZ

Polling the films of director Preston Sturges

The rules:

- your list can include no more than half of the Sturges films you've seen, up to a maximum of 5. So if you've seen seven of his films, for example, you can list only a top 3. It's only if you've seen ten or more of his films than you can list the maximum of five.

- i'll assume ballots are ranked unless you tell me otherwise. unranked ballots are fine.

- deadline for ballots: next Tuesday, in seven days, whatever day that is

- if anyone is watching films for these polls, then i'll extend the deadline up to three days, if someone requests an extension

- next poll: whoever posts the first ballot in this thread is free to nominate the director we poll next, unless you've nominated in this round already (everyone should get a chance). Already nominated this round: greg x, wba, greennui, umbugbene, ofrene, mesnalty, john ryan, silga, mrcarmady

umbugbene created an index on letterboxd of all of our previous polls here: letterboxd.com/umbugbene/list/index-of-all-scfz-director-polls/

one rule for nominees: at least 3 scfzers need to have seen 10+ of a nominee's films, or at least 4 scfzers need to have seen at least 8 of the nom's films, so if it isn't clear if that will be the case, we'll confirm that's true before moving forward

if 24 hours pass after a poll opens, and no one eligible to nominate has posted a ballot, then i'll nominate someone, and then we'll start over, and everyone will be able to nominate again

Seen 9.

1. Unfaithfully Yours
2. The Lady Eve
3. Christmas in July
4. Sullivan's Travels

Wonderful director, one of my entry points into Classic Hollywood. Need to re-watch Miracle of Morgan's Creek and Hail the Conquering Hero to remember which one I prefer, and maybe watch one of his later films for a round 10.

The Palm Beach Story
The Sin of Harold Diddlebock
Sullivan's Travels
Christmas in July
The Great McGinty


really want to vote for about eight of them, and if we were including films he wrote but didn't direct, the good fairy, remember the night and thirty day princess might all make my list

seen 12, all except les carnets de major thompson (or vendetta, though i imagine that shouldn't count)

The Great McGinty
Miracle of Morgan's Creek
The Lady Eve
Hail the Conquering Hero
Christmas in July

3.

The Lady Eve

Seen only 5

1. Unfaithfully Yours
2. Miracle of Morgan's Creek

One of my favourites. Seen 11.

1. The Miracle of Morgan's Creek (1943)
2. The Beautiful Blonde from Bashful Bend (1949)
3. The Palm Beach Story (1942)
4. Christmas in July (1940)
5. The Great Moment (1944)

Seen 4. I enjoyed Veronica Lake's role very much and the silly story of the investigative journalist.

1. Sullivan's Travels
2. The Lady Eve

seen 4

the lady eve
sullivan's travels

Seen 9

The lady eve
The Palm Beach story
Unfaithfully yours
The sin of Harold diddlebock

THE PALM BEACH STORY
HAIL THE CONQUERING HERO

Seen enough to rate more. I won't soil this post with the name of one of the films I detest with a burning bright flaming hatred, and the other is that SULLIVAN'S TRAVELS thing which whatever. The two above are the best.

i didn't realize sturges' wartime short doc safeguarding military information was available, but it is, and i just watched it - and it's surprisingly interesting if you ignore the propaganda material, some explosive footage, some not-too-successful-but-weird experimental direction near the end, and some obviously sturges-scripted scenes, even ginger rogers in a brief role. not good enough to make my list though.

Seen 5.
1. The Lady Eve (1941)
2. Sullivan's Travels (1941)
-----
3.The Palm Beach Story (1942)

just to be different

hail the conquering hero
miracle of morgan's creek
the lady eve
sullivan's travels

Christmas in July

Seen 2

Seen 6

1. The Palm Beach Story
2. The Lady Eve
3. Unfaithfully Yours

Only seen one Sturges, UNFAITHFULLY YOURS, which was fine.

flip wrote: ↑Tue Jun 16, 2020 4:42 pm i didn't realize sturges' wartime short doc safeguarding military information was available, but it is, and i just watched it - and it's surprisingly interesting if you ignore the propaganda material, some explosive footage, some not-too-successful-but-weird experimental direction near the end, and some obviously sturges-scripted scenes, even ginger rogers in a brief role. not good enough to make my list though.

thanks for the heads-up on this, nice little preview of what bracken would do in the feature films for sturges a couple of years later. won't make my list either but nice to get up to a round ten.

christmas in july
sins of harold diddlebock
the great mcginty
miracle of morgan's creek
hail the conquering hero

Evelyn Library P.I. wrote: ↑Tue Jun 16, 2020 2:53 pm One of my favourites.

evelyn, you can pick our next director if you like!

flip wrote: ↑Fri Jun 19, 2020 10:18 am evelyn, you can pick our next director if you like!

Swell! I'll nominate Joseph H. Lewis. We checked views recently in the Roeg thread and eventually got 4 folks with 8+ views, so he should be good to go.

Watched and enjoyed The Great Moment. Edited my ballot above to include it at #5.

Seen 10

1. The Lady Eve
2. Sullivan's Travels
3. The Miracle of Morgan Creek
4. The Palm Beach Story
5. Christmas in July

MrCarmady wrote: ↑Tue Jun 16, 2020 2:07 pm Seen 9.

1. Unfaithfully Yours
2. The Lady Eve
3. Christmas in July
4. Sullivan's Travels

Wonderful director, one of my entry points into Classic Hollywood. Need to re-watch Miracle of Morgan's Creek and Hail the Conquering Hero to remember which one I prefer, and maybe watch one of his later films for a round 10.

Seen 10.

1. Unfaithfully Yours
2. Christmas in July
3. The Lady Eve
4. Sullivan's Travels
5. Hail the Conquering Hero

Still wanna watch / re-watch a couple but this seems about right.

i'll still count ballots coming in today - i would anyway, but they'd also help break some ties - but the winner isn't likely to change:

results

1. The Lady Eve (1941) -- 25 pts
2. The Palm Beach Story (1942) -- 20 pts
3. Sullivan's Travels (1941) -- 19 pts
3. The Miracle of Morgan's Creek (1943) -- 19 pts
5. Christmas in July (1940) -- 16 pts
6. Hail the Conquering Hero (1944) -- 13 pts
7. The Great McGinty (1940) -- 12 pts
8. Unfaithfully Yours (1948) -- 10 pts
9. The Sin of Harold Diddlebock (1947) -- 9 pts
10. The Beautiful Blonde from Bashful Bend (1949) -- 4 pts
11. The Great Moment (1944) -- 1 pt

1. Sullivan's Travels
2. Hail the Conquering Hero
3. The Great McGinty
4. The Palm Beach Story
5. The Miracle of Morgan's Creek

I've seen 11.

thanks ororama, updated the list!

posted to letterboxd:

https://letterboxd.com/fliptrotsky/list ... -poll-219/